The Norwich shroud: conservation and investigation of a rare

VOLUME 6 2012

Technical Research Bulletin

13

The Norwich shroud: conservation and investigation of a rare Eighteenth Dynasty shroud

Monique Pullan, Janet Ambers, Caroline Cartwright, John

H. Taylor and Faye Kalloniatis

Summary One of the items in the Egyptian collection at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery is a shroud

fragment (1921.37.50), which was acquired in Egypt in February 1897 by Jeremiah Colman, the manufac-

turer of Colman’s Mustard. It was donated to the Museum in a crumpled and fragile state in 1921 and until

recently, its full size and the nature and significance of the hieroglyphic texts that cover its surface were not

known. In a joint project between Norwich Castle Museum and the British Museum, the textile was unrolled,

conserved and examined. The scientific investigations showed the textile to be of linen and to contain the

remains of a dermestid beetle. The red and black inks employed were coloured with hematite and a mixture

of carbon black and manganese oxides respectively. A small area of paint based on gypsum was also present

in one of the spells. In addition, infrared and ultraviolet imaging and image processing were used to increase

the legibility of the text, which consisted of spells from the Book of the Dead. The textile proved to be a rare,

early Eighteenth Dynasty (c.1550 bc) shroud probably from the Theban necropolis. The shroud’s owner was

a lady called Ipu and further fragments of her shroud were found to exist in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

JEREMIAH COLMAN AND THE

SHROUD IN NORWICH

In late 1896 Jeremiah Colman, a Liberal member of parlia-

ment for the city of Norwich and now best remembered as

the manufacturer of Colman’s Mustard, travelled to Egypt,

see Figure 1. The purpose of his journey was to join his son

Alan, who had left England for Egypt a few weeks earlier

in November 1896 for health reasons. Alan Colman was

accompanied by his sisters and his personal physician, Dr

Worthington, while Jeremiah Colman brought with him

the rest of his family. In Egypt, the Colmans hired a daha-beah, the Hathor, and sailed to Luxor, where Alan died five

days later. The trip was thus cut short and the family, having

made arrangements for Alan Colman’s body to be returned

to Norwich, headed back down the Nile and out of Egypt.

However, in the few days that Jeremiah Colman spent

at Luxor, he acquired a collection of over 250 antiquities,

including some exceptional pieces. At the end of the nine-

teenth century Luxor was awash with dealers eager to cater

for such well-to-do travellers and Jeremiah would have been

easy prey for some of the more unscrupulous sellers. Never-

theless, he managed to avoid the more disreputable vendors

and instead dealt with the likes of Mohammed Mohassib, a

prominent and generally well-regarded dealer at that time

[1]. Jeremiah was guided in this judicious choice by Alan’s

physician, Dr Worthington [2; p. 3], who had a fair know-

ledge of the market in antiquities at Luxor through previous

trips to Egypt, on each occasion accompanying invalids in

his capacity as a doctor [3; pp. 134–135, 541, 575].

figure 1. Jeremiah Colman with members of his family in Egypt in February 1897. Jeremiah is the bearded figure seated on a donkey to the left. Image: © The Ludham Archive

MONIQUE PULLAN, JANET AMBERS, CAROLINE CARTWRIGHT, JOHN H. TAYLOR AND FAYE KALLONIATIS

14

To Jeremiah Colman’s credit, his limited knowledge of

the collection that he had acquired in Egypt did not lead

him to neglect it. After his return to Norwich, he – together

with two of his daughters, Ethel and Helen, who had accom-

panied him to Egypt and who later inherited the shroud

and donated it to Norwich Castle in 1921 – decided that

the artefacts should be catalogued. The Egyptologist James

Edward Quibell was invited to Carrow House, the Colmans’

Norwich residence, to view the antiquities and to compile

a catalogue, Figure 2.

Quibell was undoubtedly a good choice. He had been

living and excavating in Egypt, initially alongside Sir Flin-

ders Petrie, so he was well acquainted with many of the

prominent archaeologists in Egypt at the time and had a

good working knowledge of current archaeological activity

in Egypt. He knew which sites were being excavated, what

artefacts were surfacing and which dealers were handling

some of the finds. Several of the entries written for the cata-

logue were clearly informed by this intimate knowledge; for

example, of two fish amulets he wrote that “fish of this shape

and size were found in March 1897 by M de Morgan” [2;

p. 33].

Quibell also had the unique advantage of viewing

Colman’s collection very soon after it had been acquired and

so would have had at his disposal any documentation that

might have accompanied the sale of the artefacts. Equally

valuable would have been his access to Dr Worthington and

the Colman family, some of whom would have been able to

provide Quibell with first-hand accounts relating to Jeremi-

ah’s extensive Egyptian purchases.

In spite of these advantages, it is disappointing to read

Quibell’s rather brief catalogue entry for the linen sheet

that has recently been conserved and investigated in a

joint project between the Norwich Castle Museum and the

British Museum. The entry, lacking details such as prov-

enance, date, place of purchase and dealer, reads “Linen

sheet: covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions from the

‘Book of the Dead’. The mummy in the coffin was often

covered with a linen sheet of this kind” [2; p. 17]. There is

nothing to suggest that the linen cloth may have been an

exceptional piece or that it may have merited closer inves-

tigation; this contrasts with his remarks on several other

artefacts, such as a scarab that he described as “rare and

interesting” [2; p. 63], or two predynastic clay figures that

he suggested “ought to be published” [2; p. 15]. Without

doubt, Quibell’s usually discerning eye had failed to grasp

the significance of the shroud.

Having passed into the collections of Norwich Castle

Museum from Jeremiah Colman’s daughters, the textile

remained unstudied for decades and it is only through the

discoveries made during the recent joint project to open

and study the linen shroud described here that the inad-

equacy of Quibell’s catalogue entry became all too apparent.

CONSERVATION OF THE SHROUD

The shroud before opening

For many years, and on its arrival at the British Museum

in January 2011, the shroud existed as a bundle of folded

plain weave, beige-coloured linen cloth measuring 28.5 ×

16 × 3.5 cm, Figure 3. There were many layers of cloth and

the full size of the textile could initially only be estimated as

possibly in excess of 1 × 2 m. Hieroglyphic texts were visible

on all the exposed surfaces, predominantly in black with a

few characters in red, but the underside of the cloth was

uppermost, so that the texts were seen penetrating through

the fabric making them difficult to read.

No records existed to indicate whether the textile had

been opened while in the private collection of the Colman

family, but the presence of an anomalous cotton thread of

modern appearance, probably from the nineteenth or twen-

tieth century, protruding from inside the bundle, suggested

that the shroud had not been folded this way in antiquity.

Prior to the recent conservation treatment, the perceived

poor condition of the shroud and its apparent fragility had

prevented any thorough investigation of the bundle. The

textile was indeed damaged and fragmentary, with frayed

threads and tangled, twisted sections of the textile making

it difficult to separate and open out the layers without the

help of a conservator. However, although there were many

splits and tears, sizeable sections of the weave appeared rela-

tively intact.

The textile had a yellow-brown colour typical of aged

linen discoloured by cellulose degradation products and

had a surface pH of 4, both of which indicated the deterio-

rated condition of the fibres. Although soft and flexible, the

individual fibres had little mechanical strength and exami-

nation under the microscope showed that in many areas

they were fractured and broken with soft, fibrous ends,

resulting in the numerous splits and tears.

figure 2. The leather-bound Colman Catalogue Curios from Egypt commissioned by the Colman family and written by James Edward Quibell. Note the intertwined initials ‘HEC’, standing for ‘Helen and Ethel Colman’, the sisters who donated their father’s collection to Norwich Castle Museum. Image: © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery

THE NORWICH SHROUD: CONSERVATION AND INVESTIGATION OF A RARE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY SHROUD

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Opening the shroud

The initial examination indicated that the opening of the

textile without undue damage was feasible.

To facilitate the safe opening of the shroud, a large

humidification chamber was constructed from polythene

sheeting and plastic drainpipe, inside which the conserva-

tion team would work. Such a large humidification tent was

required as the aim was to keep the textile at a raised relative

humidity (RH) throughout the process of opening. The RH

inside the tent was increased to between 65 and 70% and

the bundle was placed inside the tent for 24 hours before

treatment in order to increase the moisture content of the

fibres and make them more flexible prior to the process of

opening and reshaping.

Because the shroud had been pleated several times in

one direction and folded in half in the other direction

before being rolled, the unfolding was carried out in stages,

see Figure 4. Close monitoring from all angles was neces-

sary during this process to ensure that loose fragments did

not snag on each other. As the size of the textile increased

on unwrapping, it became harder to manipulate, so spatulas

and hands were used at first to support the textile, followed

by slips of Melinex polyester film. Particularly weak areas

were supported by sandwiching them top and bottom

between sheets of Melinex as they were lifted and turned. A

tube of Melinex film was used to unfold the largest part of

the textile, and finally to open the shroud.

figure 3. The Norwich shroud (1921.37.50) in its folded state prior to conservation treatment. Image: © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Trustees of the British Museum

figure 4. Unfolding the shroud within the humidified enclosure using Melinex film to support the fragile textile. Images: © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Trustees of the British Museum


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After the shroud was opened it was clear that although

there were many splits and areas of loss throughout the

textile, it was entirely connected together – although only

by a single thread in places. It remained, however, distorted

with overall creasing, strong pleated folds (particularly at

the centre) and sections tightly twisted together in bunches

so that much of the inscription was still obscured, see Figure

5. The fibres were generally flexible and pliable enough to

withstand the process of opening and flattening, but they

were very weak and degraded and it was clear that anything

more than minimal handling might cause the threads and

weave structure to disintegrate.

Apart from the natural colour change through ageing,

the textile was remarkably bright and fresh looking, with no

significant soiling; only fibres and fibre dust from the textile

itself were deposited on the surface. There was no evidence

of staining consistent with direct contact with a body. The

modern cotton thread seen from the outside of the bundle

was found to be lying loosely along the left-hand edge and

seems most likely to be present merely by chance, although

it may have been used as a means of tying together this

fragmentary section.

Treatment and mounting

Further treatment was required to untwist and flatten the

shroud to facilitate study of the texts. Over the course of

three weeks in the 65% RH environment created inside

the humidity chamber the shroud continued to relax. In

addition, cold water vapour was applied locally using an

ultrasonic humidifier to help open out twisted sections.

Working from the centre of the shroud, creases and folds

were eased out by hand and held in place using light Perspex

or acid-free card weights or fine entomological pins. The

textile readily became flat and fully open with the creases

only minimally retained by the fabric, partly because of the

softness of the fibres.

It is intended that the shroud should be kept fully opened

when it is in the stores at the Norwich Castle Museum, to

allow for study and to avoid the need to remount the textile

for future display. However, its size and fragility meant that

some stabilization would be needed and that a support

would be required. Accordingly, the shroud was attached to

a fabric-covered rigid support board made from TycoreTM

by the application of a nylon net overlay, stitched to hold the

fragmentary textile securely in place.

The transfer of the large and highly fragmentary shroud

onto the prepared support board was a challenge, and was

achieved by sandwiching the textile between rigid support

boards of matching size, first to turn it over and then to

manoeuvre it into its final position. A fine 20-denier nylon

net, dyed light beige using synthetic Lanaset direct dyes, was

positioned over the shroud, extending over the edges of the

support board, then tensioned and pinned in place. Final

realignment of individual threads of the shroud could then

be carried out using tweezers to reposition them through

the holes in the net. The three layers – the cotton covering

figure 5. The shroud after partial opening, prior to humidification to reduce the creasing and distortion and the realignment of the weave and fibres. Image: © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Trustees of the British Museum


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on the support board, the shroud and the net overlay – were

stitched together using a 44-denier silk filament thread.

This slightly thicker silk thread (often 20- or 24-denier is

used) was chosen to provide enough strength to hold the

shroud on the board in the case of vertical display. Curved

needles were used to execute a running stitch, with stitches

3–4 mm in length, anchoring the net and shroud to the

support below, see Figure 6.

As it had been possible to flatten the textile so success-

fully, and because of the numerous holes in the shroud, the

figure 6. Securing the net overlay, showing: (a) the net tensioned and pinned in place over the shroud; and (b) using a curved needle and a 44-denier silk filament thread to attach the net to the mount board, placing the stitches around the fragments wherever possible. Images: © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Trustees of the British Museum

figure 7. The shroud after conservation, secured to a fabric-covered board. The inset illustrates a detail of the text and shows that the nylon net overlay is virtually invisible. Images: © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Trustees of the British Museum

a b


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relatively open weave structure and the absence of brittle

areas, this mounting system was felt to be the most suit-

able treatment. It strengthened the shroud, preventing

any further damage and at the same time provided a good

means of handling, storing and displaying the shroud in

future. One of the strongest advantages of this sandwich

technique is that stitching worked through the object

was kept to a minimum, with most stitching in areas of

loss and around the edges. This makes it a potentially less

damaging and more easily reversible treatment, as well as

less time-consuming to execute. The result is that it is virtu-

ally impossible to see the stitching or net overlay when the

shroud is viewed from usual gallery distance, yet the frag-

mentary textile is well supported and the texts are clearly

visible, Figure 7. High-quality images of all the texts and the

front and back of the textile were made before the applica-

tion of the net.

The shroud after opening

Once opened, a thorough examination of the shroud could

be carried out. Unfolded, the shroud is roughly square,

measuring approximately 130 × 160 cm. The textile was

woven in a regular plain weave, with an average thread

count of 20 warp and 10 weft ends per centimetre; both

the warp and weft are S-twist flax thread. The shroud is

clearly incomplete, with a finished selvedge on one side only

(viewed as the lower edge) and ragged fragmentary edges,

where the inscriptions are broken off midway, to the left and

top. The left side is most degraded and fragmentary with

large sections clearly missing.

The entire surface is covered by columns of hieroglyphs

that run vertically when the selvedge forms the bottom edge.

They are written mainly in black ink with certain sections

in red ink, including a striking two-and-half columns just

off-centre and other smaller sections elsewhere. Within one

of the columns of red text there is a section to which white

pigment had been applied, although it is difficult to tell if

this was underneath or over the red ink. The purpose of

the white pigment seemed to be to draw attention to this

section as, contained within the area highlighted in this

way is a small cartouche – an oval enclosing the hieroglyphs

which constitute a royal name, see Figure 8a.

There is a series of seven small circular holes more or less

evenly distributed along the selvedge, about 15 cm apart.

The shape, regularity and position of these holes may be

evidence of a past event, such as hanging or stretching out of

the textile. There were no traces of metal oxidation around

the holes to indicate the use of metal pins, which can be

found when textiles have been hung with nails or drawing

pins. The function of these holes is difficult to interpret and

they may indeed date from antiquity.

At the upper right edge of the textile fragment the warp

threads all end uniformly along the same line, suggesting

that they had been deliberately torn or cut here. This straight

edge does not extend across the entire cloth, making it

unlikely that it is the original edge of the shroud. It was not

possible to determine whether this cut or tear had occurred

in antiquity or later.

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS

Once the shroud had been unfolded it became possible to

apply a range of scientific techniques to its study [4]. These

included technical imaging, to clarify the written texts

and to provide information about materials, and vari-

able pressure scanning electron microscopy (VP-SEM)

with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and Raman

spectroscopy to investigate the nature of the fibres and

pigments present.

Imaging

A number of imaging methods were used, selected to

provide information on different aspects of the shroud and

its inscriptions:

figure 8. The area of the shroud containing the cartouche of Menkaure imaged and visualized using different techniques: (a) in visible light; (b) after image processing to emphasize the red text; and (c) in the UV-reflected image, which highlights the area of white paint. Images: © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Trustees of the British Museum

a b c


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Infrared reflectography (IRR): IRR is most frequently

used in museum contexts to reveal hidden features or

preliminary drawings beneath painted surfaces [5].

However since carbon-based materials are particularly

opaque to infrared radiation and carbon is by far the

most common black pigment in ancient Egyptian art,

it was anticipated that IRR investigation (as described

in the experimental appendix) would clarify the black

inscription on the shroud. No hidden text was revealed

by this technique, but the contrast between the black ink

used for the majority of the hieroglyphs and the linen

substrate was enhanced, making the text more readable.

This is because the ink absorbs infrared radiation nearly

as strongly as it absorbs visible light, while the linen (even

in the areas where it is stained and discoloured) absorbs

infrared radiation less strongly than in the visible region.

Image processing: Although the black text showed

strongly in the IR reflectogram, there was poor differ-

entiation between the red text and the background.

Clearer images of the red text were produced by image

processing using the method described in the experi-

mental appendix, which greatly improved readability, as

seen in Figure 8b.

Ultraviolet (UV)-induced luminescence imaging:

UV-induced luminescence imaging was used to inves-

tigate the distribution of luminescent materials on the

shroud. Luminescent compounds typically include

many modern conservation materials and a number of

organic substances used in antiquity [6]. Strong lumi-

nescence from the underlying modern board on which

the shroud was supported during imaging made the

image difficult to interpret, but detailed examination

revealed no evidence of any luminescence from the

shroud itself. This suggests that not only were no lumi-

nescent pigments used in the original text, but that the

shroud is – as expected – unlikely to have been subject to

any modern conservation treatments since it came into

the collections of Norwich Castle Museum.

figure 9. VP-SEM micrographs showing: (a) the flax fibres of the shroud, Linum usitatissimum, identified by their key characteristic features (dislocations, swellings, cross-markings and longitudinal striations); and (b) the intrusive thread found folded into the shroud, identified as cotton (Gossypium sp.) on the basis of key features (smooth, ribbon-like, twisted fibres with longitudinal and spiral striations). Images: © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Trustees of the British Museum

figure 10. VP-SEM micrographs showing: (a) the fragmented remains of a dermestid beetle (Dermestes frischii) found in the fibres of the shroud; and (b) an area of the shroud fibres that the beetle has partially consumed and reworked into a ‘nest’ (one of the legs of the beetle can also be seen in the upper left of the image). Images: © Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery and Trustees of the British Museum


20

UV-reflected imaging: UV-reflected imaging generally

provides information about materials present in the

upper layers of an object [7]. For this reason UV-reflected

images were collected of the area of white paint around

the cartouche, Figure 8c. The resultant image clarified

the distribution of the white pigment, showing it to be

crudely applied, probably using a wide brush and over

the red ink of the text.

Fibre and insect identification

A number of tiny fibre samples were taken from different

areas of the shroud. These included the shroud fabric itself,

a small area that was found during conservation to contain

the remains of a beetle and the apparently intrusive thread

described above. VP-SEM examination of the fibres of

the shroud showed that it was linen, consisting solely of

flax fibres (Linum usitatissimum), Figure 9a. The intrusive

thread was identified in the VP-SEM as modern cotton,

Gossypium sp, Figure 9b.

The fragmented remains of a skin beetle found amongst

the fibres of the shroud (Figure 10a) were identified as a scav-

enger species, Dermestes frischii, which can feed off many

different types of hosts including skin, fibres, dried human,

animal and vegetable matter, wood and stored products. This

dermestid beetle had partially consumed and reworked some

of the flax fibres into a ‘nest’, Figure 10b. It was not possible to

determine the date of this insect, which could have entered

the shroud fabric at any time since its production.

Pigment identification

Tiny samples of the two inks used to produce the texts and

of the white pigment on and around the cartouche were

collected and investigated using SEM-EDX and Raman spec-

troscopy, described in detail in the experimental appendix.

SEM-EDX examination of the red ink showed it to be

iron-based and Raman spectroscopy of the same material

proved the colourant present to be hematite (Fe2O

3). Hema-

tite, in the form of either iron oxide or red ochre, is by far

the most common red pigment found in Dynastic Egypt

[8]. Here quartz and other minerals were also present,

suggesting red ochre as the most likely source.

SEM examination of samples from areas of black ink

produced backscattered images that showed bright white

grains lying on top of the threads, together with some

smaller and darker particles. The brightness of backscat-

tered images is related to the atomic weight of the material

under examination. These images therefore demonstrated

the presence in the pigmented areas of elements heavier

than those of the shroud fibres, an unexpected result as

most Egyptian black inks are carbon-based [8]. SEM-EDX

analysis of the bright particles indicated the presence

of manganese, together with a mixed suite of elements

(calcium, silicon, aluminium, potassium, iron and magne-

sium) that are commonly associated with soil or sand.

Raman examination of the same areas suggested the

presence of two black materials. The first gave spectra

that matched reference material for amorphous carbon,

suggesting the use of either soot (carbon black) or crushed

charcoal (the absence of phosphate indicates that the carbon

is not derived from burning bone or ivory to give ‘bone

black’). The second produced spectra (Figure 11) that were

a close match to published reference spectra for manganite

(MnO(OH) [9]), a mineral that is known to occur in Egypt

[10]. The black ink would therefore seem to be a mixture

of amorphous carbon and a manganese-based compound.

These findings are somewhat unexpected. Amorphous

carbon is without doubt the most common black pigment

in Egyptian art [8] and its presence in the black ink on the

shroud is unsurprising. The discovery of the additional pres-

ence of a manganese-based material is far more unusual.

Spurrell reported the use of manganese blacks in a Middle

Kingdom site at Beni Hasan [11], but this has not been

confirmed by modern analytical techniques. Middleton

found manganese-based compounds used as black pigment

in a series of painted reliefs from the late Twelfth Dynasty

tomb of Djehutyhotep at El-Bersheh [12], but there seem to

be no reports of the use of the material in a New Kingdom

context. However shrouds such as this are rare and this lack

of data may reflect the infrequent analysis of such items.

Raman analysis of the white pigment found in the

cartouche showed it to be gypsum (CaSO4·2H

2O). This

material is known to have been in common use as a white

pigment in Dynastic Egypt [8]. While the sample that could

be taken from the shroud was too limited to give an accu-

rate range of particle sizes, the white pigment was noticeably

more coarsely ground than either the black or red. For that

reason, and because of the manner of its application to the

textile, it seems more appropriate to term this material a

paint rather than an ink.

SEM imaging and optical microscopy showed all three

pigments used to have been applied directly onto the

figure 11. Raman spectrum from a sample of black ink (green trace) with a reference spectrum for manganite (pink trace). Exciting wave-length 532 nm, power 0.25 mW


21

unprepared textile surface, but it was not possible to remove

enough of any of the coloured materials to allow analytical

study of the binding media.

THE INSCRIPTIONS ON THE SHROUD

The entire front surface of the shroud is occupied by inscrip-

tions in vertical columns defined by narrow lines of black

ink; these columns vary in width from about 2.5 to 3.5 cm.

The columns on the left and in the centre of the shroud

occupy the full height of the textile, but at the right side the

field is subdivided by horizontal lines to form three blocks

of shorter columns, positioned one above the other.

The inscriptions within the columns are written in a

cursive hieroglyphic script. Most of the texts are in black

ink but, as mentioned above, for two-and-a-half columns

located roughly in the centre of the textile red ink was

employed. It was also used for selected words and phrases

in other places and, at the far right, for a hieroglyphic group

reading ‘recitation’, which is repeated at the heads of all the

columns of the middle and lower registers. The style of

handwriting is uniform throughout, suggesting that only

one scribe worked on the shroud.

The texts consist of extracts from the large collection

that the ancient Egyptians called ‘Spells for Coming Forth

by Day’, which is today known as the ‘Book of the Dead’.

This body of magical recitations, designed to aid the dead

person in attaining eternal life, developed from the Coffin

Texts of the Middle Kingdom and first came into use in

the early part of the Second Intermediate Period (c.1700

bc). The earliest examples of the Book of the Dead have

been identified on wooden coffins of royal persons buried

at Thebes – Queen Mentuhotep and Prince Herunefer [13,

14]. In the late Seventeenth and early Eighteenth Dynasty

(late sixteenth century and early to middle fifteenth

century bc) passages from the Book of the Dead were

written on linen mummy shrouds, sometimes accompa-

nied by illustrations (vignettes). The practice of writing

the texts on linen fell out of use in the reign of Amen-

hotep II (c.1425–1400 bc), by which time it had become

customary to inscribe the spells on rolls of papyrus [15].

The palaeography of the inscriptions and the wording

of the Book of the Dead spells on the Norwich shroud are

consistent with a dating to the early decades of the Eight-

eenth Dynasty (c.1550–1500 bc). The texts on the shroud

are to be read from left to right; this is contrary to the usual

right–left orientation of Egyptian handwritten texts but it is

characteristic of Book of the Dead manuscripts, in which not

only is the direction of reading reversed but the hieroglyphic

signs themselves are also oriented so as to face the end rather

than the beginning of the text (‘retrograde’ script). These

peculiarities perhaps served to emphasize the special, sacred

character of the texts, but the use of retrograde writing may

also be a result of scribal copying from papyri in hieratic

script, in which the signs always face right [16].

The ragged left edge of the shroud preserves only small

parts of Book of the Dead spells 39 and 65, which are

followed by spells 116 and 91 (the identification of these

incomplete texts has been confirmed by comparison with

the other fragments of the shroud mentioned below). To

the right of these come spells 64 and 30B. The final (right-

hand) section of the cloth, subdivided into three registers,

contains, at the top, spell 100 and the first part of spell 149,

while the middle and lower sections contain spell 136B. The

modern numbering of the spells derives from a relatively

late redaction of the Book of the Dead; in early examples

such as the Norwich shroud the spells do not appear in a

fixed sequence.

The spells follow one another without any clear marks

of separation. Spell 64, however, ends with a conspicuous

rubric in red ink, extending over parts of three columns and

containing a prominently written royal cartouche, Figure

8a. This rubric is a standard formula, describing the myth-

ical discovery of the spell, which allegedly occurred during

the reign of King Menkaure (Mycerinus), the builder of

the Third Pyramid at Giza. Since there is no contemporary

evidence for the existence of Book of the Dead spells at so

early a date (c.2525 bc) the account is generally understood

to be a later tradition, invented to lend authority to this

important text by associating it with one of the great rulers

of Egypt’s distant past.

THE OWNER OF THE SHROUD

AND RELATED FRAGMENTS

At several places within the surviving texts the name of

the original owner is legible: ‘Ipu, daughter of the Lady

of the House Mutresti’. Both names are characteristic of

the late Seventeenth and early Eighteenth Dynasty, and

an Ipu with a mother of the same name is known from

three fragments of an inscribed linen mummy shroud now

in the Cairo Museum, Inventory JE 96807 [17; Textband

pp. 13–18, Tafel 5; Tafelband Tafeln 11–14]. These frag-

ments bear spells from the Book of the Dead written in a

similar hand and style to those of the Norwich fragment.

Although the Cairo pieces are themselves damaged and

incomplete, the spells inscribed on them can be identi-

fied as, from left to right, numbers 124, 83, 84, 85, 82, 77,

86, 99B, 119, 7, 102, 38A, 27, 14, 39, 65, 116, 91, 64 and

30B. The last six of these spells are of particular interest

in determining the connection between the Cairo and

Norwich pieces, since where the torn edge of the Cairo

pieces contains only the beginnings of columns the corre-

sponding edge of the Norwich piece supplies the missing

words, leaving no doubt that they are parts of a single

textile. The combined dimensions of the adjoining pieces

in Cairo are 274 × 138 cm, which is compatible with the

measurements of the Norwich fragment, and two of the

Cairo pieces include a selvedge that evidently represents

the original upper border of the fabric.


23

The linen itself has been stabilized and brought to exhi-

bition standards in a format that is more easily accessible

for display or study and also suitable for future long-term

storage. The shroud has, indeed, yielded far more than

Quibell’s catalogue entry might ever have suggested.

EXPERIMENTAL APPENDIX

Imaging

UV-reflected images were taken using a Canon 40D camera

body modified by removing the inbuilt blocking filter in

order to exploit the full sensitivity of the CMOS sensor

(c.300–1000 nm). The lens was a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8II.

Illumination was provided by two sets of four Philips PL-S

9W fluorescent lamps positioned symmetrically at c.45°

to the focal axis of the camera. The lamps were fitted with

Schott DUG11 interference filters that block visible and

infrared (IR) radiation and transmit principally in the range

280–400 nm. A second Schott DUG11 filter placed in front

of the lens allowed UV radiation to reach the sensor while

blocking all stray IR and visible radiation.

To record UV-induced visible luminescence images the

camera and illumination source were the same as those used

for UV-reflected imaging. Schott KV418 and IDAS-UIBAR

filters were placed in front of the lens. This combination

blocks all UV and IR radiation, allowing only light in the

visible range (400–700 nm) to enter the camera.

Infrared reflectography (IRR) was carried out using an

OSIRIS infrared camera based on an InGaAs sensor that is

sensitive to radiation in the range c.800–1700 nm [5]. The

shroud was illuminated with two standard tungsten photo-

graphic lamps positioned at c.45° to the focal axis of the

camera.

Uncalibrated visible images made with a Canon 40D

camera were image processed to enhance the red text using

the image processing package VIPS/nip [24]. The raw (RGB)

images were converted into the CIE L*a*b* colour space

(where L* is a metric for lightness, a* represents a red –green

opponent scale and b* a yellow–blue opponent scale). The

a* channel was extracted and negative (green) values were

‘clipped’ to zero. The resulting monochrome image was

scaled to produce an image that represents the ‘redness’ of

the object, so that regions that were painted with red pigment

appeared light and the remaining areas appeared darker.

Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX)

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was carried out using

a Hitachi S-3700N Variable Pressure SEM. Samples were

mounted, uncoated, on adhesive carbon pads. The fibres

and beetle remains were identified in backscattered mode

with an accelerating voltage of 15 kV and a chamber pres-

sure of 30 Pa. The partitioned segment mode was set at

BSE3D to accentuate diagnostic features. Reference collec-

tion specimens were used for comparison.

Pigments were analysed using an accelerating voltage of

20 kV and a chamber pressure of 30 Pa. Areas for anal-

ysis were selected from images acquired in backscattered

mode. The EDX compositional data were obtained using an

Oxford Instruments INCA EDX microanalysis system with

an INCAx-act Silicon Drift Detector.

Raman spectroscopy

Pigmented areas on small fibre samples were analysed using a

Dilor Infinity Raman spectrometer with green (532 nm) and

near infrared (785 nm) lasers at a maximum power of 4 mW

at the surface with a spot size of a few microns. Spectra were

collected for total times between 2 and 20 minutes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The support of the British Museum’s ‘Partnership UK’ programme, and in particular of Maria Bojanowska, is gratefully acknowledged, without which the project would not have been possible. The project team would also like to thank Robin Mallett for confirming the skin beetle as Dermestes frischii.

PROJECT TEAM

Norwich Castle Museum: Jonathan Clark, Faye Kalloniatis, Man Yee Liu and Debbie Phipps.British Museum: Janet Ambers, Caroline Cartwright, Emma Pass-more, Melina Plottu, Monique Pullan, Nicole Rode, David Saunders and John Taylor.

MATERIALS AND SUPPLIERS

Nylon net: Dukeries Textiles and Fancy Goods Ltd., 15a Melbourne Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG2 5DJ, UK.Cotton calico: Wolfin Textiles Ltd., Unit 4, Phoenix Works, Corn-wall Road, Pinner HA5 4UH, UK.Tycore board: Preservation Equipment Ltd., Vinces Road, Diss, Norfolk IP22 4HQ, UK.

AUTHORS

Monique Pullan ([email protected]) is a conservator and Janet Ambers ([email protected]) and Caroline Cartwright ([email protected]) are scientists, all in the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research at the British Museum. John Taylor ([email protected]) is an assistant keeper in the Department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan at the British Museum. Faye Kalloniatis ([email protected]) is a research associate at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.


24

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Documents

The Norwich shroud: conservation and investigation of a rare